Gavin DeGraw: Gavin DeGraw : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Gavin DeGraw first hit it big with 2003's "I Don't Want to Be," an anti-fronting anthem with the long-winded chorus "I don't want to be anything other than what I've been tryin' to be lately." Five years later, dude's still verbose. He packs bizarre metaphors into the faux-jazzy "Cop Stop": "I won't tell you lies/Or treat you like a rental car like other guys." (Thankfully, there's no mention of handling his stick shift.) And on "Medicate the Kids" — a power-chord-filled rant against ADD drugs — he issues free advice like a feckless Dr. Phil. Luckily, DeGraw's stamped-on-your-brain melodies save him: "Next to Me" is a bouncy plea to an aloof love interest, and the piano-and-guitar-fueled "In Love With a Girl" is frat-boy soul at its most tuneful. It's perfect mood music for teen girls and the sensitive guys who want to hold their purses.